Thursday, April 24, 2014

"Panthers Play for Keeps"

Clea Simon is the award-winning author of three feline-centric mystery series, the Theda Krakow mysteries, Dulcie Schwartz feline mysteries, and Pru Marlowe pet noirs, the last two of which are ongoing. (She is also the author of three nonfiction books, including The Feline Mystique: On the Mysteries Connection Between Women and Cats [St. Martin's]). Simon's latest books are Grey Howl, the eighth Dulcie mystery (for Severn House), and Panthers Play for Keeps, the fourth Pru Marlowe, which was just released by Poisoned Pen Press.

Simon applied the Page 69 Test to Panthers Play for Keeps and reported the following:

Page 69 in Panthers Play for Keeps opens a chapter with a rare contemplative moment for my heroine Pru Marlowe. She is just back from a walk in the woods with Spot, the guide dog she is training. In the forest, Spot has stopped Pru from walking into a wall of brush, a thicket that seems to be hiding a wild beast… possibly the panther of the title. But what Pru can’t understand are the thoughts that Spot has shared with her.

Shared with her? Yes, Pru is not only an animal behaviorist, she’s a bit of an animal psychic. And while most animals don’t exactly talk to her – although her cat, Wallis, has been known to give her attitude – she can pick up on what they are sensing. Spot, good dog, was intent on the predator in the bush. He was working to pick up on what was out there, and what it’s intentions were. But what Pru got from him – one word – is making her wonder:

“Scared.” What had Spot meant by that? I thought back to the vision he had shared with me. The implication was that the beast – whatever it was – inside the bush had been afraid of us. Or, more likely, him. And in a way I could see that. Most wild animals really do prefer to avoid humans and domestic dogs. We’re just too much trouble, and they have enough good sense to know it.